Picture 1: Protestors outside my flat. I have no idea what they were protesting.
Picture 2: Jose doing....well....who knows!?!
Picture 3: Jose, Me, Kevin, and Caldron.
Monday, 22 September 2008
Random Pics
Picture 1: Protestors outside my flat. I have no idea what they were protesting.
Picture 2: Jose doing....well....who knows!?!
Picture 3: Jose, Me, Kevin, and Caldron.
PASSA BOLA
Recently the Foundation launched a new initiative called Passa Bola. It’s a very entrepreneurial endeavor where LMF will entice different vendors to brand their products with the passa bola symbol (a black and white soccer ball). A portion of the proceeds for that product will go to LMF to fund our projects. Fantastic isn’t it!?!
So next time you see a product with a Passa Bola symbol on it…buy it!
So next time you see a product with a Passa Bola symbol on it…buy it!
MARIA MUTOLA
On Tuesday I got to finally meet the infamous Maria Mutola. She visited the Foundation to review the financial statements and get a general update on the progress of all the projects.
She is very unassuming. She greeted each and every one of us with a warm smile and a firm handshake. Her elegant clothes concealed her well defined muscles beneath. She spoke in perfect English, due to the fact that she has lived many years in America and South Africa. In fact, there is a myth that many Mozambicans perpetuate that she cannot speak Portuguese fluently. Unfortunately I cannot confirm or refute the claim, but I can understand where it comes from since she speaks English so well, and in all the time she was in the office I did not hear her revert to Portuguese which was a pleasant change for me since I am still learning the language.
There were subtle characteristics about Maria that I found endearing. For example, when she entered the board room and was ushered to the large chair setup at the head of the table, she commented “I can sit anywhere.”
When the Directors were going over the results of the Foundation with Maria Mutola she spoke up and asked intelligent questions about the Projects. She had done her research and read the literature on the Projects which was sent to her in advance of the meeting.
I am told that Maria Mutola will be visiting the Foundation more often from now on, given the fact that she has retired from professional running (after Beijing Olympics) so I am looking forward to hopefully getting a picture with her before I leave.
She is very unassuming. She greeted each and every one of us with a warm smile and a firm handshake. Her elegant clothes concealed her well defined muscles beneath. She spoke in perfect English, due to the fact that she has lived many years in America and South Africa. In fact, there is a myth that many Mozambicans perpetuate that she cannot speak Portuguese fluently. Unfortunately I cannot confirm or refute the claim, but I can understand where it comes from since she speaks English so well, and in all the time she was in the office I did not hear her revert to Portuguese which was a pleasant change for me since I am still learning the language.
There were subtle characteristics about Maria that I found endearing. For example, when she entered the board room and was ushered to the large chair setup at the head of the table, she commented “I can sit anywhere.”
When the Directors were going over the results of the Foundation with Maria Mutola she spoke up and asked intelligent questions about the Projects. She had done her research and read the literature on the Projects which was sent to her in advance of the meeting.
I am told that Maria Mutola will be visiting the Foundation more often from now on, given the fact that she has retired from professional running (after Beijing Olympics) so I am looking forward to hopefully getting a picture with her before I leave.
Status Update: Operation Black Toe
On Saturday afternoon I decided to test out my toe. I had been walking pretty gingerly with it up until then. So like true Matthew fashion, I decided to heck with the “easing back into things,” I’m going for a run!
And my little jog turned into a marathon event. I ran down the beach road (where my friend was mugged) to the fish market and then back up Julius Nyarere through downtown Maputo, down the hill (you’re not supposed to run on), and to Baixa (downtown). I was running about 1:20 so at 10km/h that’s about 13 kilometers (7.5 miles for you Americans). But that wasn’t enough to test out my toe. So I met some friends across from VIP Hotel in Baixa (downtown) on Av. 25 de Septembro (you guessed it, the street is called September 25th) and played some ultimate Frisbee.
I had never played ultimate Frisbee before so it was all new to me. Rules are pretty simple.
1) Require field 100 meters x 37 meters
2) 2 teams – we played with 5 a side but I’m not sure official guidelines. As far as I’m concerned, the more the better.
3) One team serves to the other team by launching the Frisbee as far as they can down the field.
4) Team member catches Frisbee. Can not move both feet, can only pivot on one foot kind of like basketball.
5) Team member with Frisbee throws Frisbee within 10 seconds to another team member who must immediately stop running.
6) Repeat steps 4 and 5 until a team member catches the Frisbee in the end zone.
After an hour and a half of Frisbee I thought to myself, “well maybe the toe needs some stretching while I cool down” so I walked home which took another 45 minutes.
So all in all it was a 3 hour workout to make sure my toe was ‘A okay.’
So you can all rest assured that my toe is on its way to complete recovery. No bleeding in a few days and the nail has bonded to the skin beneath. Half my nail is black and half is still alive and kicking so I’ve got a funky looking toe.
Enjoy the picture ;)
Diplomacy 101
Let me tell you a little story about a dude I know named Will.
So as predictable as the sun rising in the morning, he was stopped walking home on Friday night from his friend Jose’s house. He knew it was coming too. There were 2 officers at the corner of Mao Tse Tung and Vladimir Lenine which is exactly 1 block from his flat. He rounded the corner and he was greeted with, “Boa noit!” and then the inevitable, “Onde esta um passport?” (Where is your passport?)
He rolled his eyes and pulled out his wallet to provide him with a copy of his passport.
Officer, “But this is a copy. Why don’t you have the original?”
Will, “You know why I don’t carry the original. Because someone may steal it.”
Officer, “But this copy is falling apart. Why?”
Will, “Because this is the 9th time I’ve been stopped by you and your Officer buddies.” [He knows he shouldn’t get smart with Officers but most of it gets lost in translation with them anyway so they don’t get offended. Furthermore, they know it’s the truth]
Officer, “You should know better by now to carry your original passport.”
Will, “My original passport is at home. If you want to see it you can come to my home.”
Will can pretty much script out this entire conversation by memory since he has been through it so many times.
He asks, “But we need to see original.”
To which Will responds, “If you want to see the original, we can go to mi casa (my home) and you can see the original.”
Officer, “No. We go to the esquadra (station).”
Will, “Ta bon. Vamos. (Okay, let’s go)” They start walking up Mao Tse Tung towards the Esquadra across from Will's house. As they approach the Esquadra the Officer starts negotiating.
Officer, “You don’t really want to go to the station. Just give us a refresca (drink).” By now Will is too tired to argue with him.
Will, “Okay, wait right here (they are infront of his flat now) and I will grab us a drink.” He goes up to his flat and grab 4 drinks. One for him, one for his Guard, and one for each of the Officers. They all enjoy drinks under the moon light. Cheers ;)
By the way, the “guard” is referring to the security guard that is at the entrance of Will's building. Pretty much every store, house, office, apartment building has a security guard around the clock that stands guard (and occasionally sleeps).
Disclaimer: The above tail is a fictitious account of what a volunteer in Maputo, Mozambique may encounter.
So as predictable as the sun rising in the morning, he was stopped walking home on Friday night from his friend Jose’s house. He knew it was coming too. There were 2 officers at the corner of Mao Tse Tung and Vladimir Lenine which is exactly 1 block from his flat. He rounded the corner and he was greeted with, “Boa noit!” and then the inevitable, “Onde esta um passport?” (Where is your passport?)
He rolled his eyes and pulled out his wallet to provide him with a copy of his passport.
Officer, “But this is a copy. Why don’t you have the original?”
Will, “You know why I don’t carry the original. Because someone may steal it.”
Officer, “But this copy is falling apart. Why?”
Will, “Because this is the 9th time I’ve been stopped by you and your Officer buddies.” [He knows he shouldn’t get smart with Officers but most of it gets lost in translation with them anyway so they don’t get offended. Furthermore, they know it’s the truth]
Officer, “You should know better by now to carry your original passport.”
Will, “My original passport is at home. If you want to see it you can come to my home.”
Will can pretty much script out this entire conversation by memory since he has been through it so many times.
He asks, “But we need to see original.”
To which Will responds, “If you want to see the original, we can go to mi casa (my home) and you can see the original.”
Officer, “No. We go to the esquadra (station).”
Will, “Ta bon. Vamos. (Okay, let’s go)” They start walking up Mao Tse Tung towards the Esquadra across from Will's house. As they approach the Esquadra the Officer starts negotiating.
Officer, “You don’t really want to go to the station. Just give us a refresca (drink).” By now Will is too tired to argue with him.
Will, “Okay, wait right here (they are infront of his flat now) and I will grab us a drink.” He goes up to his flat and grab 4 drinks. One for him, one for his Guard, and one for each of the Officers. They all enjoy drinks under the moon light. Cheers ;)
By the way, the “guard” is referring to the security guard that is at the entrance of Will's building. Pretty much every store, house, office, apartment building has a security guard around the clock that stands guard (and occasionally sleeps).
Disclaimer: The above tail is a fictitious account of what a volunteer in Maputo, Mozambique may encounter.
Progress at Work
A lot of you that I have spoken to, while in Mozambique, have questioned whether I am actually doing any work. That question always seems to follow me around wherever I go and whatever I do. Well let me set the record straight. YES I WORK. In fact, I work every day! I have not missed a day yet, well except for one Friday when I travelled to Swaziland. Fridays are half days anyway and I made the time up during the following week by staying late. In fact, the past two weeks I have had to walk to and from work. Honestly, I prefer it to driving. The walk is about 50 minutes there and an hour back. It takes longer to back partly because it is uphill most of the way. Although the walk to work is sometimes a little sweaty and uncomfortable, I think I still prefer it to sitting in an air conditioned car on the 401 bumper to bumper. I hate traffic! I have come to accept it as a part of life in Toronto, but I really hate it. I think it is unproductive, inefficient, wasteful (okay so I like reinforcing my point with redundant words), and just all around sucks. But I digress.
At work I have managed to organize the voluminous amount of information that the Foundation (where I am volunteering in case you haven’t kept up to date with my blog) calls its ‘financial records’ into a comprehensive set of reports which explain the year to date. I can tell the Directors everything they need to know about their donor funds. Where they have been spent, when, on which projects, paid to whom, etc etc. I can even tell them whose salary payments are in arrears and how much funds they are going to need to get through the rest of the year.
Over the next two weeks the focus of my work will be refining the financial reports that the Directors need to provide their donors and then two, training the finance personnel. I need to explain to the accounting staff everything that I Have been doing over the past two months so that they can sustain the processes I have put in place. Hopefully, when I visit them next year (anyone want to sponsor me…huh….anyone?) they will marvel me with what they have done with my work. That’s the hope anyway.
So, if you know any other company / foundation / individual / small-business that could use some financial assistance give me a call.
Disclaimer: This blog is not intended to solicit business for any persons under contract or employment.
At work I have managed to organize the voluminous amount of information that the Foundation (where I am volunteering in case you haven’t kept up to date with my blog) calls its ‘financial records’ into a comprehensive set of reports which explain the year to date. I can tell the Directors everything they need to know about their donor funds. Where they have been spent, when, on which projects, paid to whom, etc etc. I can even tell them whose salary payments are in arrears and how much funds they are going to need to get through the rest of the year.
Over the next two weeks the focus of my work will be refining the financial reports that the Directors need to provide their donors and then two, training the finance personnel. I need to explain to the accounting staff everything that I Have been doing over the past two months so that they can sustain the processes I have put in place. Hopefully, when I visit them next year (anyone want to sponsor me…huh….anyone?) they will marvel me with what they have done with my work. That’s the hope anyway.
So, if you know any other company / foundation / individual / small-business that could use some financial assistance give me a call.
Disclaimer: This blog is not intended to solicit business for any persons under contract or employment.
Monday, 15 September 2008
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